Rutter Force: an Eden Valley beauty spot

The Eden Valley, Cumbria is full of natural beauty. A perfect place to come home to from all the travels and to naturally seek pure wonder by just heading out of the front door. Never always a need to travel far, or seek particular places. Rutter Force, near Appleby, is one local place I go to time and time again to clear my mind and take in some natural positivity.

A local place I can go in all weathers. Of course the sun combined with the deep greens of summer make it a gorgeous setting but in all weathers you can be pleasantly surprised. A winter snow here surrounding the falls looks spectacular or autumn browns and yellows give a whole new feel. Nature and wildlife is in an absolute abundance, it is here as well as the garden at home that I find a whole load of red squirrels that pose happily for the camera, as they go about their nut seeking business 🙂

Hoff Beck is the waterway, it feeds into the Eden River but not before falling down these graceful falls. The bridge across that gives a great view directly at the waterfall is an old wooden footbridge. Don’t just come in dry summer days, it is great to see the tansformation after a quite a bit of rain, the falls become the force indeed! This is the end of the little road for vehicles too, unless heading over the river to the idyllic accommodation. That brings me to the other half of the main Rutter Force view, the quaint old sandstone watermill.

It is believed the watermill has been written about since at least as far back as the 16th century. The original use was as a corn mill, then over time it has been used as a bobbin mill, a saw mill and also to produce electricity for the nearby villages as Great Asby.

Today the mill is used as self catering holiday accommodation and for those that seek time away in a little paradise, at the foot of a waterfall, I wouldn’t think you could go far wrong here.

I am sure I will be back here many times again, maybe even show you another completely different season. If you have been you will know as I do it is not a packed tourist trap. The nature around shows you so too. If in the area seek it out and enjoy.

Founder of BaldHiker.com and avid hiker, climber and trekker. Never liking to sit still and always seeking new adventures around the world. Sharing personal views here and tweeting live via @paul_steele